Furthur wrote:Also, I expect more of you to show up next year. KC had a good showing at the First Class challenge this year.

One of the tournament directors for the First Class Challenge was there and I thought Swope was great. That's the only course in town I had played quite a bit and I always thought it was boring as hell. With all of the current rope though it was a lot of fun to play. I'm really not sure you need more OB there unless you just wanted to change the path on certain holes.
BTW Next year I would rather play 4 rounds at Waterworks.

I've always liked Swope Gold. I thought everything played fine. I didn't look at the back tee on 14, but I think it might make that hole a little tougher. The only thing that didn't play particularly well is the right OB line on 3. Since the line ran parallel to most disc flights that went out that way, it was nearly impossible to determine where it went out and people were taking too much advantage of that. Ben, the course TD, can tell you all about it. Other than that I thought everything played great. That course got me back in the tournament.

Thanks for the information Clue. I agree about #14; I'm doing something different next year. We will probably not play the peninsula pin unless we play the one way up the hill (making it a true par 4). I had envisioned the short pad being something that pros would at least think about skipping onto the island, but after talking with a number of them, they said I'd have to cut out some scrub to really give them a shot they'd think about taking. We may play the back tee to a temp basket near the road to increase people's risk/reward factor there.

As for #3: I'll try to take some of that bend out of the rope next year. That was my bad when I was setting it up, and didn't even think about that possibility.

Furthur wrote:Also, I expect more of you to show up next year. KC had a good showing at the First Class challenge this year.

One of the tournament directors for the First Class Challenge was there and I thought Swope was great. That's the only course in town I had played quite a bit and I always thought it was boring as hell. With all of the current rope though it was a lot of fun to play. I'm really not sure you need more OB there unless you just wanted to change the path on certain holes.BTW Next year I would rather play 4 rounds at Waterworks.

I'd like some OB on the 1st temp hole personally. It was too open for my taste, but with this being my 1st try at roping Swope, I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew.

Furthur wrote:I'd like some OB on the 1st temp hole personally. It was too open for my taste, but with this being my 1st try at roping Swope, I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew.

I don't think there's any need for that. No matter where you go on the drive, the upshot is no picnic. Yeah, there won't be a ton of 5s, but I think there are 2-3 options off the tee which setup 2-3 options on the approach. I like the idea of throwing well right off the tee to setup the wide hyzer approach. It nearly adds 100ft to the hole so it's not like it's a gimme. To me, the best way to improve that hole would be to have it mowed very short to induce some attempts to cross the road off the tee with either air or roller. I didn't see anyone come particularly close to making the OB like I have in the past. The bottom line is that rope there would take away options and creativity.

I don't mind the pin on 14 at all. I just thought it was too easy to get into the trees off the tee which led to a very easy upshot. If the tee shots come up short of the trees then you're left with more of a left to right approach which is tougher and also creates balance from the tee shot.

Clue wrote:I don't mind the pin on 14 at all. I just thought it was too easy to get into the trees off the tee which led to a very easy upshot. If the tee shots come up short of the trees then you're left with more of a left to right approach which is tougher and also creates balance from the tee shot.

Did you guys like the island hole? That's one of the ones that could turn into a par 4 next year if I wanted to, dividing the 1st and 3rd temp hole's fairways with rope, and making you tee from somewhere down the hill by the old gravel lake.

Furthur wrote:Did you guys like the island hole? That's one of the ones that could turn into a par 4 next year if I wanted to, dividing the 1st and 3rd temp hole's fairways with rope, and making you tee from somewhere down the hill by the old gravel lake.

I really liked the shape of the island hole; it wasn't just a big circle. It had a nice bailout area, and a big enough area to land it in if you went for it.

Furthur wrote:Did you guys like the island hole? That's one of the ones that could turn into a par 4 next year if I wanted to, dividing the 1st and 3rd temp hole's fairways with rope, and making you tee from somewhere down the hill by the old gravel lake.

I really liked the shape of the island hole; it wasn't just a big circle. It had a nice bailout area, and a big enough area to land it in if you went for it.

Agreed. The shape of it really made you throw a good shot if you wanted to be close. Not everyone 2'd it. nice having a short par 3 with risk/reward.

Cool guys. I'm happy that it played like that. I spent a good deal of time watching leagues play that hole to come up with the design I wanted. I'm probably going to shrink the bailout area by bringing the right side closer, but still leaving the distance to clear at about 110' next year if we use that hole.